Hardik fights for Gujjars who lost their lands to Rashtrapati Bhavan

Patidar leader announces support for Nitish Kumar, will hold five rallies in Bihar

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Hardik Patel, leader of the Patel agitation in Gujarat, today announced plans to launch a movement to get justice for Gujjar community of Delhi whose lands were acquired to build the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House and Akshardham temple. Patel also unveiled his plans to hold five rallies in the poll bound Bihar and announced his support for Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

Patel has floated the Akhil Bhartiya Patel Navnirman Sena (ABPNS), an umbrella organisation of Patels, Kurmis and Gujjars, that he said will work to secure their rights across the country. Patel, 22, said the land was acquired from the ancestors of his Gujjar brothers at measly amounts. "Whatever land that is available and where no work is happening should be given back to our Gujjar brothers," he said at a meeting of the new outfit here. Patel said he will organize a rally soon at Delhi's Ramlila Ground to raise this demand.

Patel, who has complained of police excesses on his supporters and himself after having led an agitation in Gujarat to demand reservation in jobs and educational institutions for his community, said: "In Gujarat we saw that if anyone that has helped make a Prime Minister then it is us, so we should not be harmed".

He said that the new outfit was a non-political entity. "Its job will be to protect the people of Patel, Kurmi and Gujjar community, farmers, workers and women," he said. Patel claimed the outfit has spread to Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Chhattisgarh. "We should build a strong organisation that can bring the country to a standstill. There should be one voice of the Patels, Marathas, Kurmis, Gujjars," he said.

Asked about campaigning in poll-bound Bihar, Patel said he will hold five rallies in the state to strengthen the ABPNS. "I am supporting Nitish (Kumar) and not his party. He belongs to our community," he said. Patel said his community will also hold rallies in Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh next month and demanded early release of the caste census figures of 2011.He said the ABPNS wants OBC status for the Patel community in Telangana and Andra Pradesh.